I'm not sure if I am the only one playing Madden thus far, but I wanted to try to get other folks impressions on the game thus far. I only tried the first quarter of a game and the game itself is really fun. My two main gripes however, are that the field at MetLife Stadium (Giants Stadium to me haha) looks really odd. I know it is meant to be realistic that not all the turf looks uniform, but the field in the shade actually reminds me more of Sega Saturn era Madden fields then PS3. It was actually slightly funny in that way, yet almost depressing that it looks THAT bad. For anyone who has ever played on that kind of turf surface, it's nothing like that in terms of looks.

Also, the commentary is not exactly up to par. I'd go as far as to say it's broken and maybe the worst commentary I've seen in a sports game. The first play was a run and they said how I started with a "Pass to Hakeem Nicks". Come on EA!!

Another time I skipped the cut scene and the commentary kept discussing the Giants season in 2010 and totally missed a 55 yard touchdown bomb to Mario Manningham down the sidelines. Like I said, things like this are totally disheartening. One step forward, three steps back...

Does anybody else have anything to say regarding the new Madden? So far, it's a fun game but these flaws are killing it for me. Impressions??

I will be chiming in about Madden soon, but your comments are consistent with what we've seen with the franchise over the last few years.

EA knows that Madden just needs to be adequate, so they don't bother to sweat the details or invest in play testing. And I agree that no matter how well the game plays, minor miscues like those you mentioned can ruin the experience.

Considering how mature the franchise is and the fact that EA has the NFL license locked up, there's no reason why Madden 12 shouldn't be the most polished football game ever produced.

I've said it before and I'll say it again...ESPN NFL 2K5 is the greatest modern football game. EA knew this and after they saw how amazing it was decided to pull the plug on any competition. If NFL 2K was still around it would be pushing EA to make Madden better, since its not they are able to crap out a mediocre title year in and year out. To this day EA has never been able to produce a product that was even remotely as good as ESPN 2K5. If you don't believe me go pop that game into your PS2/Xbox and just try it out. Over the years its aged like the finest of wines...I would love to see the Critic re-review that game.

That being said, does anybody know when the NFL exclusivity license with EA ends? I really miss having a large choice of football games to play.

[QUOTE=JustLikeHeaven]I've said it before and I'll say it again...ESPN NFL 2K5 is the greatest modern football game. EA knew this and after they saw how amazing it was decided to pull the plug on any competition. If NFL 2K was still around it would be pushing EA to make Madden better, since its not they are able to crap out a mediocre title year in and year out. To this day EA has never been able to produce a product that was even remotely as good as ESPN 2K5. If you don't believe me go pop that game into your PS2/Xbox and just try it out. Over the years its aged like the finest of wines...I would love to see the Critic re-review that game.

That being said, does anybody know when the NFL exclusivity license with EA ends? I really miss having a large choice of football games to play.

[/QUOTE]

The exclusivity license was extended in February to 2013. As far as Critic re-reviewing NFL 2K5, I think he did that to it semi-recently on both PS2 and Xbox.

More on topic with Madden 12, though, I find the critical reaction to this year's version pretty interesting on two fronts. One, although it's getting pretty good marks overall, they aren't quite as high as usual (I think it's barely 81% on Gamerankings). And two, I find it interesting how many reviewers are slapping down last year's version, despite it scoring a bit better than this one. In fact, I was surprised how open 1UP's review was, basically admitting that the game isn't great and that their review, and everyone else's, is basically pointless and giving the series a pass on elements that they wouldn't for other games.

I see that he did indeed re-review those games. His review of the Xbox version is basically how I feel. It's an A+ game for sure and its withstood the test of time. It's an absolute shame that series was never allowed to progress any further.

I hope the NFL license becomes fair game again after 2013 because the videogame world needs a game other than Madden. I doubt it happens though...from what I understand the NFL makes tons more money by just having the exclusive license with EA.

Played the game for the first time tonight, and it was as I predicted. This is very similar to last year's game, and the changes can be described as superficial at best. As I was playing I saw a lot of missed opportunities.

When a defender grabs Big Ben he always seems to go down immediately. In real life, he'd fight off the guy and escape half the time. When a player is injured, he writhes alone in pain and has to struggle off the field with no one even paying attention. The play selection mechanism has been dumbed down so much that you have to go out of your way to access the full playbook. Chris Collinsworth goes on the same diatribes as last year. As the final insult, the Raven cheerleader outfits are not even close to the real thing!!

Seems to me so many people are way to concerned about the 'detail realism' and not enough about the game play. Who cares about the commentary or about cheerleaders on a damn GAME! much less during an actual broadcast (do you know they only get paid like $50 a game?) or about injury animations? I do not even know what Madden is at this point anymore - a bunch of people who cannot stand it and yet cannot get enough.

Its become the 'fruitcake' of gaming. Everyone buys it - but seemingly no one likes it.....

I picked up Madden this year, which would mark the first non-Wii or non-portable Madden game that I've picked up since 2006.

Since I've gone so long in between playing a "mainline" Madden game, I feel I have a different perspective. And no, that perspective isn't "wow this is awesome!"

Instead, my take on Madden is that they are actually, in some respects, trying way too hard. I don't think laziness is the problem; I think they spread themselves thin over too many game modes.

To me, the modern sports game needs the following, in addition to just "quickie" exhibition games:

1. Franchise mode, which should last forever with new players auto generated via drafts and such.2. A competitive, ranked online mode that that is lag free with good match-making. Co-op play (for most sports) is also a must here.

After that, it's all kinda kinda "noise," though I have always really, really liked the *idea* of Superstar mode in these games. But I was flabbergasted to find the huge array of modes and options, some of which I don't think I'll ever play or use (such as the Fantasy Football thing, since I use yahoo for that).Madden 2012 has minigames, Superstar mode, "Ultimate Team Mode" (which seems really cool actually, but haven't tried it yet), and tons of online modes such as online franchise and online leagues.

That's just way too much content to polish in one year dev cycles! So what you have is some modes that are underserved (like Superstar mode, which has never gotten anywhere near its potential for an immersive, RPG like experience), but I'd argue that it is likely that the game as a whole doesn't get the polish and attention it needs because they have to maintain such a huge array of "stuff."

If the NFL didn't sign that awful exclusivity deal (remember: it is the NFL's fault here, they didn't have to do that, EA just did what ANYONE would do in their position), I'd like to see a competitor put out a product that was priced 10-20 cheaper, and only had the "essential" modes I listed above, but with a huge amount of polish! For example, I'd like to see the announcers and crowd actually changing what they say based on the season/circumstance, I'd like all the glitches polished of the visuals. I'd love to see innovation in terms of different parts of football: right now, you are totally at the mercy of the AI when you throw the ball: even if you throw it perfectly and the guy is wide open, ultimately, it is up to the AI to make the catch (unless you switch to control him, but nobody does that).

All in all though, I'm not displeased with Madden. It is... Madden, and plays like all the Maddens I've ever played in the last decade, and I am genuinely interested in trying some of the interesting online stuff, like online franchise mode (I'm just now starting one with friends). But I just see this game as being spread way too thin; they should cut some fat and polish the best stuff IMO.

Very nice post. The amount of features in Madden borders on comical. Who even uses half this stuff? For me, all I need is a quick play, season mode (with EASY to find stats) online play and a franchise mode. That is it. Regardless of the game quality...Madden is still fun to play against a friend. I just wish that they would spend the little time they have making real improvements to the on field gameplay. Sometimes I wish they would scrap the code they've been using for this generation and start fresh. That would never happen though.